NCAA Tournament 2013: 5 things to watch in Friday's games

The NCAA Tournament field of 68 has been whittled down to 12, with eight of those teams in action Friday night. Who will join Ohio State, Syracuse, Marquette and Wichita State in the Elite Eight?

Here are five things to keep an eye on during tonight’s games.

1. Battle for the Sunshine State

Florida Gulf Coast players have some fun during practice for a regional semifinal game in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Thursday, March 28, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. Florida Gulf Coast faces Florida on Friday. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Andy Enfield couldn’t have picked a better Sweet 16 opponent than Florida. The Florida Gulf Coast head coach, a former Florida State assistant, is quite familiar with the Gators — and now he’s got a chance to really make his mark on the state’s most successful collegiate program.

A number of FGCU’s players hail from Florida, and you can bet they didn’t turn down offers from the big SEC school to attend the smaller Atlantic Sun institution. The Eagles are going to have to prove themselves every time out on the court; one bad performance and they go from being a great team to a No. 15 seed that just happened to catch lightning in a bottle for a couple of games.

While an Eagles win certainly wouldn’t swing the balance of power from UF to FGCU within the panhandle, it would certainly earn the school a great heap of respect — and probably a few thousand more applications as well.

2. Coaching clinic

No offense to the coaches who paced the sidelines Thursday, but it's hard to top the group of men who will lead their teams into action tonight. It's a lineup that includes some of the greatest minds in college basketball: Michigan State's Tom Izzo and Duke's Mike Krzyzewski go head-to-head in the Indianapolis late game, while Kansas' Bill Self and Michigan's John Beilein square off in the early game from Arlington. Two-time national champion Billy Donovan's Gators tangle with rising star Andy Enfield's Eagles in the nightcap.

What does that mean? Well, hopefully it means some really good basketball — halftime adjustments, well-designed plays in the clutch, and the enjoyment of watching the high level of basketball these men teach. Between them, these coaches have seven national championships, 19 Final Four appearances and enough tournament experience to fill several books. If great basketball starts with great coaching, we’re all in for a treat tonight.

3. Cranking up the competition

Speaking of great basketball, there was very little drama to be had on Thursday. The Ohio State-Arizona tilt provided plenty of it in the final minute, with Mark Lyons’ game-tying 3-point play and LaQuintin Ross’ subsequent game-winner, but that was about it for high tension.

Wichita State ran away from La Salle early, and Marquette did the same to Miami in another rout. Syracuse and Indiana played a slow, plodding game that the Orange led by double digits throughout.

All three results were ready to get penciled into brackets by the 10-minute mark of the second half. With so few games remaining in the college basketball season, it's time to get busy churning out a few more instant classics.

4. True tests for top seeds

Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski watches his team during practice for a regional semifinal game in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Thursday, March 28, 2013, in Indianapolis. Duke plays Michigan State on Friday. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Though teams like Oregon and Florida Gulf Coast have had to beat a pair of tough opponents just to make it this far, high seeds like No. 1 Louisville and No. 2 Duke have had a much easier path into the second weekend of the tournament. No. 1 seed Kansas did struggle somewhat with Western Kentucky in its opener before dispatching North Carolina by 12 in the second round, but the Cardinals and Blue Devils have won their first four combined games by an average of 21.5 points.

Now the going gets much tougher for all three. Louisville gets Oregon, which has already ousted No. 5 seed Oklahoma State and No. 4 seed Saint Louis to reach the Midwest Regional Semifinals in Indianapolis. Duke gets Michigan State, fresh off a 22-point dismantling of Memphis in the Round of 32. Kansas might have the toughest test of all in Michigan, which did what very few teams can in making a tough and talented VCU team look downright average.

All these teams are playing well. What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? Hopefully some mind-blowing madness.

5. The Wild Card Factor

What I love most about this time of year is that the players who emerge on the biggest of stages aren’t necessarily the ones that are expected to. Sometimes it’s the Aaron Crafts who hit the game-winning 3-pointers, but sometimes it’s the LaQuentin Rosses of the world. Often it's a senior putting the finishing touches on a fantastic career, but once in a while it’s an underclassmen just beginning to write the legacy he’ll leave on his program.

There are plenty of national names in action on Friday, from Kansas’ Jeff Withey and Ben McLemore to Michigan’s Trey Burke and Glenn Robinson III. But there are also talented role players and freshmen, kids itching for a chance to make their mark and with the maturity — or maybe blissful ignorance of the moment — needed to make it happen.